Millions of archaeological sites around the world await discovery. Conflict, looting, encroachment and environmental change threaten them. The solution? Crowdsourcing, state-of-the-art computing and mapping technologies, open-source data and community hubs of citizen archaeologists on the ground.

Through GlobalXplorer°, founded by Dr. Sarah Parcak, virtual citizen archaeologists based anywhere in the world, including Birmingham, assist with local field work. As new cultural heritage data is uncovered, a global platform makes it accessible to all. GlobalXplorer° began with Peru and is scaling up country by country. Cool, right?

Blockchain technology: Originally developed to verify cryptocurrency transactions, blockchain has a host of applications. GlobalXplorer° is looking at using it to develop an antiquities registry to fight looting and black-market sales.